Читать книгу The Scandal Behind The Italian's Wedding - Millie Adams - Страница 11

TWO THINGS HAD become clear to Dante as he’d stared down into Min’s green eyes.

The first was that if Minerva and Isabella were in real danger then he would have to protect them. There was no choice.

He could not uncover her lies, because no matter how convoluted it might be, his protection was perhaps the only thing standing between her and this man she claimed wanted to do her harm. Dante was not so foolish as to think he could simply involve law enforcement and make an issue like a man connected to a crime family go away.

But he had resources. Men at his disposal. And more important, he had money. If her plan didn’t work, he had other methods of being able to protect them.

And then, there was the second thing that occurred to him. Which was that if he wanted a stake in Robert King’s company, then marrying his daughter, and being the father of his granddaughter, was likely the best way to accomplish that.

Dante had always known he would marry. It was a given. He had no plans to love his wife, as indeed he had no plans to love, much less the ability. But he had always thought that he might want a son. Someone to carry on what he had started.

He was a man from nothing. Nothing had been given to him. And he had much that he could pass on to an heir.

So yes, he had often thought that he would marry. Why not Minerva? Why not when it would benefit them so?

No, he would never be attracted to the skinny, dull little hen, but it didn’t matter. They already had a child between them, as far as the world was concerned. And genetics meant nothing to Dante. The man who had fathered him had gone off God knows where and hadn’t given a damn about him. While his mother...

She had cared the best she could. But she had been an old, tired whore—in a literal sense, not a euphemistic or insulting one—and in the end, the comfort of drugs was much more enticing than the grind of impoverished motherhood.

She had given up taking care of Dante when he was about eight years old. And she had given up living when he was ten.

He had been on his own ever since.

And while he was not sentimental, not really, on that score, he felt some measure of passion over the idea of protecting Isabella.

He did not need to become emotionally entangled in order to do this. It required legal paperwork and public trappings, and it was all the sort of thing he could engineer easily without needing to change diapers or rock her to sleep in private.

He also felt some grudging admiration for Minerva.

Minerva was protecting her child. She had come up with the solution that had seemed best to her in a moment of panic.

And he had the means to protect a child. He would not leave Isabella exposed. Not as he had been.

After all, he had been dependent upon the good graces of a man who had not been his father. Robert King was, in many ways, the closest thing he had to a father.

No, genetics were not required to make a family. Genetics, however, had been required for him to gain access to Robert King’s company. And now...well. Now he’d have a link there, as well.

“Marriage?” She recoiled. “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m not.”

Where did she get off looking horrified by the prospect of marrying him? He was the one who would be saddled to this plain little creature from now until eternity. He was the one who ought to be concerned.

“Yes, Min, marriage.”

“You’re old,” she said.

He barked a laugh. “And you’re a child. But you wanted my protection, and I am willing to give it. But you have to give me something in return.”

“Marriage.”

“Yes.”

“What are your motives? Because I know it isn’t to gain access to my bed.”

“Indeed it is not. But what I would like is for your father to consider merging his company and mine, and barring a family connection, he is not interested.” Her green eyes were jewel-bright and full of rage.

“So you’re willing to help me, but only as it benefits you in a business sense?”

“Please, Minerva,” he responded. “I don’t need this. Make no mistake. Had I needed a family connection I would have pursued it on my own terms long ago. With Violet. Not you.”

Her cheeks flooded with color. “Oh, really?”

“She is much more in keeping with my image.”

“Your image!”

“Though, to be perfectly frank, little one, I could have seduced you at any point over the years if I’d wanted to. I did not need your little scheme. Had I wanted to marry you, I’d have done so.”

She looked a second away from howling. “You could not seduce me, Dante Fiori,” she spat. “I don’t even like you. I never have.”

“Oh, is that why you used to follow me around like a puppy?”

He did not know why he felt the urge to prod at her, only that he did. She was the one who had walked them into this situation, and now she was going to put up a fight because he had found a way to make it tenable for him. Well. He would not have it.

This little sprite did not own him, and she was not in charge here.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was not quite the monster that the press made him out to be, he could destroy her farce easily. All it would take was a simple paternity test.

“You are using me to clean up for your bad choices, Minerva. All the better for you if you’d been seduced by me. Because at least I would have offered marriage, and I would have posed you no threat.”

“You are a threat,” she said darkly.

“A threat to what?”

“Common human decency.”

The door to the study opened, and Robert King filled the space. “I think we need to have a talk,” he said.

“Whatever you have to say to Dante you can say in front of me,” Minerva said.

“I don’t think that’s true, Min,” her father responded.

“It is,” she said stubbornly.

“Fine,” Robert responded. He slammed the door behind him. “How dare you use my hospitality so poorly. She’s a child compared to you.”

“You weren’t angry when I came home with the baby!” she protested. “But now you’re mad?”

“Why rail at you for your decisions?” Robert asked. “You were out in the world on your own, and you did not consult me on your choices. You came home and presented them, and what was the point in holding a postmortem on it? I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at him.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Minerva shouted.

But Dante knew that it did. Because Robert knew exactly where Dante was from. Not only that, he was thirteen years Minerva’s senior. A man who had seen more and done more than Minerva ever would.

She had been cloistered, sheltered by her family connections, and Robert had extended the same to him.

Robert had always counted on Dante to take care of Minerva.

Oh, yes, the fact that he was treating it as a betrayal made perfect sense to Dante.

And it spoke volumes about Minerva’s actual inexperience and age that she did not.

“Just tell me that you never took advantage of her when she was younger,” Robert said, his voice like iron. “Tell me.”

“I would not,” Dante said, keeping his voice even. “I swear to you, I would never abuse what you gave to me.”

“And yet,” Robert said, “here is the evidence that you have.”

“I seduced him,” Minerva proclaimed.

Both of them turned to look at her. Dante wanted to laugh. There she was, looking as she ever did, a university student in a sweater that was overlarge and a slouchy pair of jeans.

He couldn’t imagine her seducing a trembling virgin. Let alone a man of his vast experience and particular appetites.

“It was the night of my going-away party. Before I went to study overseas.” She gave her father a conspiratorial look and lowered her voice. “He was very drunk.”

Madre de Dios...

Dante remembered that night well. He was not drunk, and had in fact been in the company of a lush heiress who was much more age-appropriate to him.

“I’ve always had a crush on him,” she continued as the color rose in her face. “Yes. You see, I’ve always wanted him, and I thought that before I left I would get what I wanted. So I crept into his room and I... Well, I’m afraid I took advantage of him.”

“Min,” he bit out. “Stop helping.”

“It’s true! You were reduced. Your senses. I apologize for my predatory behavior. And I was ashamed. That’s why I didn’t... That’s why when I found out I was pregnant I hid it.”

“And why did you decide to announce it on TV today?” Robert asked.

“Well,” Minerva said, clearly hunting around for an excuse.

And if Dante weren’t so irritated he would be entertained watching her scrabble around for a reason why she’d chosen to reveal all today. And in public. She squinted. “I had been trying to talk to him. But he hasn’t been returning my calls. I assumed because he was embarrassed.”

“I was embarrassed?” Dante asked.

“Well, you were quite drunk,” Minerva explained, like he was a child. “I don’t know that you were up to your usual standards.”

He could strangle her. Cheerfully. If she weren’t holding a baby he might.

Her father, for his part, looked badly like he wanted to exit the conversation, and at least on that score he could give Minerva some points. She had successfully turned an uncomfortable situation into a horrific one, and Robert no longer looked angry so much as he looked utterly and completely appalled.

“You will, of course, do the right thing,” Robert said, directing that at Dante.

“Of course,” Dante returned.

“What’s the right thing?” Minerva asked.

“Obviously he’s going to marry you,” Robert said.

“In fact, I informed her of this only a moment before you came in,” Dante said. “She’s being stubborn. She has no concept of the consequences of her actions.”

“Well, then it will be up to you to ensure she does.”

“Dad,” Minerva said, her tone scolding, “stop playing the part of tyrant. It doesn’t suit you.”

“It does, however, suit me, cara mia,” Dante said.

She shot him a fearsome look.

He would never have ascribed a word like fearsome to Minerva before. She had always seemed timid to him. But standing there, cradling her baby as she was, her posture defiant and defensive, he found that fierce and fearsome were words that described her extremely well.

As irritating as he found the situation he was in, he could only admire it.

That she was a woman willing to do whatever it took to protect her child.

Along with that came the discomforting thought of her being touched by a man who was involved in organized crime.

What had happened? Had the man seduced Minerva? Had she seduced him? Was it a piece of truth buried in the outrageous story she had made up about taking advantage of Dante while he was drunk?

Minerva was twenty-one, but he couldn’t imagine that she had a very long or intense history with men. For as long as he’d known her she’d been unattached, and she had never seemed overly interested in that kind of thing.

He was basing that off her total lack of efforts when it came to making herself up. Her sister was a makeup mogul. If Min wanted to improve herself she could have easily done it.

But then, the fact that she had come back with a child, the fact that she had claimed for all the world that he was the child’s father, and the fact that he had never guessed she would do any of those things made him acutely aware of the fact that he didn’t actually know her that well at all.

“Your mother will want to speak with you,” her father said.

“I imagine Maximus will want to speak with me,” Dante said.

Robert gave him a long look. “Yes. I imagine. Though as you are marrying her...” He appraised him slowly. “You do know, I suppose, that this will put King Industries in your hands.”

“It had occurred to me.” There was no point pretending it hadn’t. Robert knew him too well.

“Had the timing been different, I would’ve suspected you of nefarious behavior, but you never inquired about the child, or made any effort to see if it was yours.”

“It didn’t occur to me the child could be mine,” Dante said. “And no, I didn’t plot this.”

“No,” Robert agreed. “A plot of yours would’ve been much neater.”

Dante grinned ruefully. “Well, at least we both agree on that.”

“I will leave you for the time being. But Dante, the wedding must be planned sooner rather than later. Now that it is revealed, you will move to make an honest woman of her. I do not want speculation to go on. Our official statement will be that fearing you wouldn’t be receptive, Minerva kept it from you, and the moment you found out...”

“It’s not a story,” Dante said. “It’s the truth.”

Then Robert turned and walked out of the study, leaving the two of them alone again.

“You’re a fool, Minerva. Did you not think that me marrying you was inevitable?”

“It never occurred to me that my father would force the issue. He was so... Lackadaisical about me being a single mother. About me returning with a stranger’s baby.”

“Yes, because he cannot force a man he’s never met to act with honor and integrity. But he would expect it for me. Surely you must have known...”

“I didn’t think about it,” she snapped. “When Carlo texted me, I panicked. I did the only thing I could think to do. I jumped in front of the cameras. I don’t regret it. Even now.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear that you have committed to lying in the bed you’ve made.”

“How long do you suppose we’ll have to stay married? It seems to me that we should be able to have Carlo dealt with in a timely fashion, and even if we don’t... Well, if we can keep up the facade for a long enough amount of time, then surely he’ll fade into the background eventually.”

He regarded her closely. “Cara, I’m Catholic. Divorce is out of the question.”